"You are new?" Jongdae asked the girl who is conscientiously styling his hair. 

"Ah... yes." She nodded and gave a shy and fleeting smile.

_______________

Her name is Song-Ah. 

And she caught his heart straight away. For the one year that Ume tried, she only took one day. 

The day when Ume stumbled upon them at the coffee shop, his eyes widened in shock. Song-Ah just smiled daintily at her. Obviously she didn't know what had gone on between her and Jongdae.

That night, Jongdae called Ume.

"Noona, I think it's better for us to remain friends."

"W-We are going to be anyway, aren't we?" Ume tried to sound cheerful. 

"N-Noona, I like Song-Ah."

That sentence drove an icikle through her heart.

"It's not that... that I don't like you. But you.. you are someone special to me. I don't want to hurt you. I'm not good enough and... I'm not strong enough should things... things turn out bad and.. you leave me. I can't bear that to happen."

There was a poignant pause between them. 

After what seemed like a century, Ume spoke again,

"Jongdae ah, we are friends. And we will still be. It's okay. I like Song-Ah too. She seems like a nice girl." That must be the biggest lie she's ever told in her entire life. She has always been a person sharply and honestly blunt with words. 

Ume heard a sigh of relief at the other end of the receiver.

"Ah... that's good to hear, noona. Song-Ah is... she is cute and easy to get along with... "

Ume just muttered a few "yes" to his rail of praises of that girl for the next few minutes. When she couldn't take it anymore, she cut him off - - 

"Jongdae-ah, I still need to do the dishes."

"Ah...oh.. okay. See you around then."

She didn't bother with a bye. She snapped down the receiver, her pale hands trembling from holding on too tightly to it. 

She felt a droplet on her hand. That was the first time she cried since coming to Seoul. 

And she cried hard.

____________________

Nobody knew what happened. 

Ume pretended she had a new boyfriend when she was actually conversing with her ex-colleagues in Taiwan who had sought her professional advice regarding a project. Her current colleagues all assumed with the amount of time she spent texting and cooping at home with relentless energy was due to a new blossom in her life. 

In fact, she was expending all her energy in work so that there's none left to haunt her during her nights alone in her apartment. She didn't lie on purpose actually. People assumed she had a boyfriend. And she just played along. 

In the meantime, Jongdae went into a full throttle relationship with Song-Ah. 

But just weeks before Exo-K went public, Ume received a call. 

____________________

It was a unknown number.

"Hello?"

"Ume unnie?"

"Yes?"

"I'm Song-Ah".

____________________